Do you feel like you’re showing off a little bit when you take a solo? If not, you might want to re-think that a little and here’s why…
If you look at a 12 bar blues progression… you get something like this:
Notice that at the top, there are 4 bars of the same chord (the I chord.) I put this in the key of A, so in this case it’s A7 all the way through the first 4 bars.
That means that when it comes time to change to the IV chord, the D7, your listener has gotten a little weary because nothing has really changed and when that change happens it’s going to be kind of a big deal.
And your job as the soloist is to show the listener that you not only know the chord has changed, but to try and lead your listener to that new chord change… and the better you do that, the more you will sound like you know what you’re doing.
If you take a look at Solo 1 from Blues Guitar Unleashed and look at the tab you’ll notice that in every case when the chords change, the note that happens on that beat where the chord changes is a chord tone… it’s the root, 3rd or b3rd (you can get away with the flat 3 because it’s the blues) or the flat 7th.
Well it doesn’t take much thinking to realize that if a lick is designed to accentuate the D7 chord, and you put it over the A7 chord, something is probably going to have to change. It may not, but it often will.
But what’s important to note is that while none of those licks would sound wrong at pretty much any time… they would not necessarily sound right unless they match up the same way.
So let’s say you took a swing blues in C instead of Solo 1’s straight feel in A. You can move everything up 3 frets and play it in a swing exactly as written and it’ll sound perfect (give it a try, really!)
But if you were to try and mix up the licks with some others (the ones from solo 3 are some of my favorite) you would want to make sure to keep things in roughly the same place or they may not fit very well.
In other words, a lick from Solo 3 that comes in bar 4 going into bar 5 (where the I goes to the IV chord) probably won’t work so well in bar 8 going into bar 9 (where the I chord goes to the V chord.) Nor would it really work in bar 12 going back to the top where the V chord returns to I.
And in fact, a lick that comes in bar 4 going to bar 5 probably isn’t going to sound that great anywhere except that one spot without some “massaging of the notes” because no other place in the progression has that same chord movement.
So your assignment is to take Solo 1 if you don’t know it already, and change it to the key of C and play it over a swing blues feel. If you don’t have any jam tracks I know where you can get some 🙂
19 replies to "Learn To Show Off A Little"
Great lesson, thanks! Going to move onto your jam tracks now. 🙂
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Hi there,
Thanks for the great article.
I have had problems recently when soloing and this has helped.
Cheers
Tom
You have a terrific style of teaching. It’s just like having a tutor in the room with me. Thanks for your videos etc…
Micky, thats a great story/advice
Griff,
These blogs are inspiring.
I will reread this one several times to fully understand but I get the concept.
My guitar teacher and others tell me I need to have less thinking and more feeling……some days I have it.. some days I dont
Thanks Griff… I dig solo 1 in all keys and I’ve been using it more and more… Blues Unleashed!! 🙂
Hi
Got most of that
Need to read it couple more times
But i know where your goin
Thanks whistlr
Hi Griff,
Sorry to break it to you but I really don’t enjoy the blues,in fact I don’t have any blues records or cds, just maybe Led Zeppelin. Hard rock,Heavy Metal and Classic Rock(acoustic rock) is what I really dig so that is what I’ll play on guitar. You have a ton of information starting with ‘The 4 note solo’ and I know you are one heck of a good guitar teacher, but only in Blues?
Cheers, Jay
I am now firmly convinced I will never master the blues because almost everything you wrote went completely over my head and left me totally confused. Thanks.
Hi Griff,
Big thanks for helping me keep sane way up here in Nome (Alaska) this past season
Since working on BGU course, my playing has really improved. That’s saying a lot because I’ve been playing since 11, (I’m 59 now) I always “dropped” the run of the mill lessons sooner or later in the past but your style works for me and I’m all the way thru the course and looking forward to the Slide lessons next! As I head back to Texas for a well deserved 5 months off….I’ll be looking forward to your next email lesson and blog.
Thanks again and “KILL ‘EM” this weekend.
“Ugly” Scott
i’m 62 been playing since i was 12. never learned music therory. all that above just looking at the sheet music is like trying to read chinese to me. i always have done it by ear. i get what your saying about using your solos to take alick into the next chord change to help the listiner. i have always beeen the rythm guitar player and lead singer. i would sometimes do dual leads with our lead guitarist. that was only on a few songs. we had a cd out in 2000.we wrote all our own songs. just not a blues band, but some songs sounded kind of bluesy. thanks griff.
Somebody,who is pretty good on guitar, recently sent me a jam session to a blues beat, where he was playing lead. I expected to hear something somewhat ear catching and informative, as he does have knowledge of the guitar, and what goes with what, but it turns out that his lead that he played to this jam was very disappointing as it felt directionless, scattered, with no theme, no story in the middle, and no power ending. Kind of made me realize that just because you might be in the right scale it does not necessarily mean you are going to play a good lead unless you know how that scale is made up, and where to go when the chords change. Paul
I hear you. I too am in my 60’s and have been in a number of bands over the years. Music theory is like a foreign language to me as well. In my last band I played rhythm guitar and lead guitar at the same time as I was doing lead and back up vocals.Yes I was the only guitarist and rhythm instrument in the band that played chords. Doing all that I did at one time I was a very busy member of the group. I am in a group now where we have no vocals. Our lead instrument is Sax. I still play rhythm and lead guitar all by ear. I tell people I just happen to guess right a lot of the time when playing solos but really,I’ve learned what notes and patterns work best in any given Key. I just wanted to thank you for letting me know I’m not alone in not knowing music theory at 60+ years old.
Hey Griff
Working on you BGU course and really enjoying it.
The principle of chord tone targeting is making quite a difference to my solo efforts, making them sound less like like a drunken ferret on the guitar strings and a bit more like a I actually know what I am doing.
BUT I am finding it hard remembering all the target notes for each chord as the change approaches. Is there any way you can suggest to get those tones and location in my head and hands? Or is it just ‘ put the hours in’ 🙂
Many thanks
Mark
Hey Marc… That’s pretty much what it was for me. First stone cold memorize your master octave pattern. That isn’t too hard, and once you do that you’ll be able to find the root note of any chord quickly and on the fly. Then just take any root note and memorize where all your basic intervals are on the fretboard in relation to that one note, say the 3rd, the 5th, and the 7th. Once you get those 3 or 4 basic relationships down the rest come easy because they are the same all over the fretboard except for the b string adjustment. The minors fall quickly into line also because they’re only one fret behind the majors. After that, (and this is where im at), it really does just take some time on the fretboard to translate all the head knowledge to where you can instantly retrieve it with your fingers. Ive never really found any shortcuts that negate the necessity of spending countless hours on your axe practicing and jamming. Learning to play the guitar properly isn’t easy, it requires intense desire and dedication. For me it’s been a long arduous process, and one that never really ends. I advise putting the destination in the back of your mind and concentrate on having fun while on the journey.
A old friend of mine was once in a band in which he was the lead guitarist ,well the only guitarist . He kinda was a coach for me and I was eager for him to show me a few things . I knew the basics for the 12 bar blues progression . I had no idea what the theroy was behind it .For instance 1-4-5 . Most here know what that is . Any way getting away from what I want to say about this blog . My friend Matt told me to get angry with the guitar think about the woman that tore your heart apart and left you hanging . A certain amount of arrogrance as well . A fact of most guitarist that I do know and there are alot of them being in the play out gig thing . This may work for some out there. Hanging out with my friend Matt brought to Toads place in New Haven one nite . He left me in the dressing room and to think of all the bands and poeple that had been there really thrilled me . He also left his two gibson les pauls there on the table and a tuner . When he got back to tune them he was suprised to see I had already done that for Him . Then this is the killer part he asked to carry one guitar and follow him . We were up on the stage with a small crowd forming plugged the guitar in and asked me to do a simple sound check . I froze up paniced handed his guitar to him and told him it was his gig and the only song I could think of to play was sex and candy. wasnt confident enough about how or what kind of reaction I would get. wish I had the BALLS to do it . Since then I have been on many stages and love it . Guess what I am trying is just go for it who cares what it sounds like to You poeple just might eat it right up and love You for it . Poeple there are escaping the hum drum of everyday life to cut loose so should you. Matt was a zepplin tribute band . He was darn good at it . He played cahsmire with a bow on his guitar . The local radio station would mention him on the morning show once in awhile . He was one to say just fake it till ya make it sound the way You want it to sound work it around a bit to find the notes . OK SEE YA HAVE A GOOD JAMMING FRIDAY
Hey Mickey
Thanks for the advice. I have googled the master octave idea and found some great info for finding notes on the fretboard using patterns.
Now I just have to work them over until I remember them!
Thanks again
Mark
Griff,thanks again for helping out with the soloing. With what you have provided, and the lessons I purchased, I am showing a lot of improvement. Thank you so much. Mike
Griff,
I’ll try it down the track. Getting busy with work right now.
Cheers
Glenn Walker, Ausrtralia